Connecticut western news., 1887-08-17
DRINKING BEER.
A Brewery Employe Who Con-
 sumes a Keg Per Day.
The Daily Record Per Man From 25 to 100 Glasses.

some people seem to be specially con- structed for drinking beer. ''See that man?" remarked the foreman of one of the lager-beer brcweries in this city, pointing to corpulent German work man who was standing before the small bar, which the proprietors of the brew cry run for the exclusive benefit of their employees.
 "Yes.n
 Do you notice anything peculiar about his appearance?"
 Nothing very remarkable. Why do you aske'
 day than any other man in New York"
 ''He does't look like hard drinker."
 "No more so than any of the rest of our men, and he is not what you Ameri- cans would call hard drinker. In the fifteen years he has worked for us have never seen him drunk, but he will drink on an average 100 glasses of beer day. That is just about keg of beer day.
 Some days he will drink more and some days less."
 Doesn't it hurt him?'
 ''It doesn't appear to-. He has never been away day on account of sickness since I have been here. When he comes down in the morning, which is about , o'clock, his first act generally is to drlnk ten or fifteen glasses of beer to clear his
 throat for the day. Then, whenever he feels thirsty he leaves his work for an other drink. This bar is kept entirely for our men and our visitors The bar keepers have orders to give our men all the beer they want whenever they want it. If see a man leaving his work too
 often tell him to stay at the bar little
 longer and take three or four glasses, in
 stead of running back and forth after
 one glass each time. A few brewerics give their workmen tickets good for one glass of beer each, but most concerns let their men drink all they want without counting the number. It makes the men
 feel better and doesn't cost any more in the long run" "All of your men are not as heavy ] drinkers as this mane"
 No, but there is very little difference practically. An ordinary man would get | as drunk on 40 glasses of beer as on 100, | provided that he could hold that much fluid. suppose the average is about 40
 in this brewery. We have nearly 125
 workmen in this building and they drink over 40 kegs a day. AS there are no l glasses in keg, you can see that the av- craze is not far from 40 glasses each. We have about fifty drivers, but they get
 most of their beer on their routes from
 their customers. I don't suppose there
 is man here who drinks less than 20 | glasses day and there are half a dozen l who run over sixty"
 'How do the men manage to stand
 it so well?"
 "Come around the brewery with me
 and I'll show you,' said the foreman, | leading the reporter into large stone f1oored room, where dozen or so ! brawny workmen were washing a score l of beer kegs in a shallow tub of scalding | water. ''Just notice," he continued
 "the temperature of this room. It is 10 | degrees hotter than it is outdoors.
 Those men are wet through with per | spiration. That is the way they work | off their beer. This isn't like walking or working in the sun. There is no danger of sunstrokes over that tub, and
 they carry most of their beer home with
 them in their dripping flannel shirts | Now look down in the cellars with me, "
 went on the foreman, as he prepared a
 brace of lighted candles and led the way
 down several flights of stairs into the great black cavern under the building.
 The change in the temperature could
 not have been more startling. From
 1Oe above zero it suddenly dropped to 35, and from the pipes which supplied
 the cold air hung huge icicles. The
 vaults were piled high with deep vats,
 some filled with beer and some empty. l Into one of the latter workman was | seen working his way through hole | apparently too small to accommodate a | fraction of his girth. But such was the | yielding character of his corporosity | that the seeming miracle was accom- | plished without much difficulty, but
 with very little room to spare. Once | indeed a hose was handed him by his l companion and in few minutes he
 wormed his way out again, leaving be- l hind him as clean vat as ever beer be- | soiled."
 ''This kind of york;" explained the foreman, ''admits of beer drinking with | out danger No chance of man being | overcome with the heat down here. In ] the wash-room the men drink beer to
 keep cool. Here the men take it to
 keep warm. Now there is one place want to show you, where our men have
 chance to work off their beer," con- ] tinued the foreman as he conducted the
 reporter through the winding passage | between the vats, up the stairs into | New York again, ''and that is our malt
 room"
 The malt-room is as high above the ground as the vaults are down below it
 and as hot as they are cold. Next tc
 the sun-scorched roof, there lie bushels upon bushels of malt, and in a stifing at I mosphere of dust and heat there were q
 dozen men shovelling the grain into